For sometime now the practices of on-site (sideline)/film analysis and internet simulcasts have independently collected and distributed data. In sporting events (e.g. football) such statistical data is used by different ambition such as game reconstruction, evaluating play and action recognition, to further improve individual or group performance. Currently, other than video, there has been no systematic quantitative information maintained on the complete movements of all objects of interest during an event, in other words the continuous dynamics of an event.
Currently the procurement of detailed positional data, without the use of cameras, throughout the course of an event is not a feasible task.
Acquiring and transmitting a digital reproduction through automated means would provide a great wealth of information, as well as an enhanced Internet presence which has been previously unobtainable. In sports, football for example, the judicious expenditure of an athlete's energy is a crucial, consistent measurement of the amount of field covered, and the total distance run by a particular player would be valuable in optimizing an individual or group performance. Other statistical functions include but are not limited to, ball marking (down and distance), boundary recognition (sidelines, end zone, player motion, and tracking and possession changes (fumble recovery or interception). Thus it would be advantageous if such real-time analytical data could be provided to the user (coach) in an interactive format, point of view (POV), perspective form and thus provide greater insight to more subtle nuances of the event.
The current practice of internet simulcast, which consists of a simple bar graph to represent yardage gained or lost, accompanied with a descriptive sentence describing the last play ran, will also benefit greatly by the increased detail, as well as the ability to search a database for a particular play, or series of plays.
Various genres have been considered in the development of this invention. Aside from sports, other fields that would be improved by this technology include but not restricted to, security and tracking of consumer trends/habits. In these fields the moment-to-moment tracking of an object of interest and having readily available data will improve the ability of those to achieve their desired results further validating the necessity of such a system.